Mars Exhumes Methane on a Seasonal Cycle, Curiosity Reveals; Rover Also Detects Ancient Organic Matter (1 of 1) (IMAGE)
Caption
This illustration shows the ways in which methane from the subsurface might find its way to the surface where its uptake and release could produce a large seasonal variation in the atmosphere as observed by Curiosity. Potential methane sources include methanogenesis, UV degradation of organics, or water-rock chemistry; and its losses include atmospheric photochemistry and surface reactions. Seasons refer to the northern hemisphere. The plotted data is from Curiosity's TLSSAM instrument, and the curved line through the data is to aid the eye. This material relates to a paper that appeared in the date, issue of <i>Science</i>, published by AAAS. The paper, by C.R. Webster at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA, and colleagues was titled, "Background levels of methane in Mars' atmosphere show strong seasonal variations."
Credit
NASA/JPL-Caltech
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